In an interview with the Emirates News Agency, WAM, Sarah Shuhail, general Director of the Ewaa Shelters for Victims of Human Trafficking, noted that since the launch of its operations in 2009, the centre has received more than 263 victims who have been transferred to Ewaa shelters by official law enforcement authorities, social centres, religious organisations, embassies and hospitals, and through the centre?s hotline and its social media accounts.

“The United Arab Emirates is a country affected by the crime of human trafficking, and it is exerting great efforts to combat this through the issuance of Federal Law No. 51 of 2006 on ‘Combatting the Trafficking of Human Beings’, the first law of its kind in the Arab world,” Shuhail said.

Shuhail added, “Ewaa Shelters are the official agency for receiving victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, providing them with first relief and support. The second stage involves the screening of these persons, in cooperation with law enforcement authorities. Ewaa will then provide victims with medical and psychological care and legal support as soon as they arrive at the shelter while respecting their fundamental human rights.”

An overwhelming majority of the victims of human trafficking are women. According to the UNODC’s ‘2016 Global Report On Trafficking In Persons’, of the total victims of trafficking in the world, including children and adults, 70 percent are female.